rangers

The offseason began Wednesday, when the Rangers left the bubble in Toronto for disparate precincts across the globe. It is on to 2020-21 for the players who amassed just a little more than three weeks ago for camp and the trek into the bubble. It is on to the offseason for management that not only …

This has been a long goodbye. A melancholy one, too. But now is the time. In your heart, you know it’s right. Henrik Lundqvist might, also. He has been The King of New York since the autumn of 2005 but, as David Crosby once crooned, “To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, …

This might have represented the best of all worlds in the three-dimensional universe in which the Rangers live. For: 1) Being summarily swept out of the qualifying round, 1-2-3, lickety-split by the Candy Canes of Carolina does not erase the significant strides the 2019-20 Rangers took in transforming from lottery-fodder to playoff relevance. But: 2) …

Not even Igor Shesterkin could save the Rangers season. Finally cleared to make his postseason debut in time for Tuesday’s Game 3, the rookie goalie was strong in net, but it still wasn’t enough as the Rangers fell to the Hurricanes, 4-1, and got swept out of the Stanley Cup qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena. Former …

This was Game Too. Because though the Rangers were a tad better through stretches than they were in Saturday’s 3-2 Game 1 defeat to Carolina, they weren’t even close to good enough in Monday’s 4-1 loss that placed the Blueshirts on the brink of rapid elimination. At least Game 3 will be at the Garden, …

The Rangers’ bubble life is suddenly in danger of popping. A pair of goals in 71 seconds early in the second period sank the Rangers on Monday as they fell to the Hurricanes, 4-1, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena. They now trail 2-0 in the best-of-five series and will …

Igor Shesterkin was healthy enough to practice Sunday, but David Quinn said following the team’s workout that he had not yet anointed a starting goaltender for Monday afternoon’s Game 2 against Carolina. “I haven’t really decided,” the coach said. “[I’m] not sure yet whether Igor will be available.” The question is this: Is an impaired …

The Rangers had plenty of time to think about what Saturday would look like. But Game 1 of their Stanley Cup qualifiers quickly went off-script — even before the puck dropped. Henrik Lundqvist drew the surprise start in net, with Igor Shesterkin deemed unfit to play, but the Rangers got off to a rough start …

Henrik Lundqvist will not be unseated from his playoff throne just yet. It was Lundqvist, not Igor Shesterkin, who led the Rangers onto the ice for warmups ahead of Saturday’s Game 1 against the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena. He was set to be backed up by Alexandar Georgiev while Shesterkin …

So maybe this series against the Candy Canes isn’t officially recognized as a playoff round, but it is the postseason — the postseason! — and the rebuilding Rangers are playing hockey. Raise your hand if you envisioned that as a possibility when The Letter went out on Feb. 8, 2018. You in the back row, …